Only in the last 1.5 months in the “conflict zone” in Khabarovsky Province 4 predators were registered. On January 17, yet another tiger was hit by a car on the Khabarovsk-Komsomolsk highway, while the Utyos Rehabilitation Center is now rescuing an emaciated tigress, which was removed from nature in Bikinsky district by the conflict resolution group.

"In general, I want to note that the statistics of tiger conflict in the Russian Far East remains stable, within the average indicators, and we do not have serious reasons for concern yet. Although, alas, a significant decrease in the number of wild boar in some areas in tiger habitats due to ASF spreading in the wild should be of concern, and we have already talked about this more than once," says Pavel Fomenko, chief coordinator of rare species conservation at WWF Russia’s Amur branch, honorary worker of Nature Protection of Russia.

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Emaciated tigress from Bikinsky district being transported to the Rehab Center

"The first vet examination showed that the tigress is about 5 years old. Her limbs are severely frostbitten — deep wounds on the pads of her front and hind legs, the edges of her ears are frostbitten and her tail is almost half frostbitten. The animal is emaciated and dehydrated, the intestines are empty, there is no urine, there are chips on the lower canines. There are no gunshot wounds,” notes Eduard Kruglov, the director of the Utyos Rehab Center. “Now the tigress is in a box, where a comfortable temperature is maintained, and, what pleases, she began to take water and food — up to 10 kg of meat per day. Our first task is to bring the animal to the physiological norm. Most of all, we are concerned about her tail, which will most likely have to be amputated. And here, of course, you will need the help of a team of veterinarians."

This exhausted, inactive tigress was discovered three kilometers from the village of Pokrovka of Bikinsky district. According to Yuri Kolpak, head of Wildlife Conservation Department at the Khabrovsky Province Wildlife Management Committee, the signal about the animal in need of help was received from hunters on the night of January 9-10. HWC group and an employee of the Amur Tiger Center immediately went to the site.

In addition to the emaciated tigress, there is a dangerous predator in Vaninsky district, which is suspected of a deadly attack on a hunter, and 2 tigers who died in a traffic accident on the Khabarovsk-Komsomolsk-on-Amur highway.

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Amur tiger hit by a car on the Khabarovsk-Komsomolsk-on-Amur highway

the Khabrovsky Province Wildlife Management Committee

WWF Russia continues to support the HWC group and to closely monitor and analyze the situation with tigers in the province.

"Hunting users note that the trail activity of tigers has slightly increased this winter. We continue to study the reasons for this with our colleagues from state and public organizations. Tigers come close to the highways and fall under vehicles. The right bank of the Amur River along the Khabarovsk-Komsomolsk-on-Amur highway has always been a difficult place for predators. Once, it was even called the "Anyuisky pocket" meaning that geographically along the Sikhote-Alin Ridge there is a large area suitable for predators (including almost the entire Anyui River basin), but it is isolated by land that is not suitable for large predators at all. From the east, it is the ridge itself, from the northwest it is the highway and the Amur River with numerous settlements on the banks. This territory with favorable feeding conditions (the proximity of tiger-friendly hunting leases and the National Park) is well protected, and the tiger population there is high. But due to the tigers’ territoriality some of them are forced to leave this “cozy pocket" and found themselves in a risk zone where lies the northern border of tigers’ home range and where, as a rule, they get into conflicts," notes Pavel Fomenko.

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WWF monitors and analyzes the situation with conflict tigers in their habitats